Monday, July 22, 2013

Chiang Mai, Thailand. Part One

Internet has been in and out so will make this quick. We are staying at the Mountain View Guest House in Chiang Mai. It's right in the old city where everything is and we have a deluxe room with AC for about $35/night. The people are very friendly here.

Thailand is different than the Philippines in a few ways. Thailand has more of a unique culture, very Buddhist, many tourists, amazing food, less English.

Geckos everywhere.

There are temples everywhere. Within a five minute walk from our guesthouse, you can visit at least 4.

We have been loving Thai food. Our first meal was at the guesthouse but we have quickly realized that the best food is in the night markets and on the street! A great meal costs just $1-$2. The boys are starting to miss their regular food from home. Gary and I are loving discovering new foods every day. Last night when the kids went to bed, Gary ran across the street and spent $3 on an assortment of fun foods we haven't tried yet and we ate them on the patio:)

Koen talks to everyone he meets. They have no idea what he's saying and he doesn't even realize that they don't understand. We are loving our mango smoothies. Love them. Just $1 each for fresh fresh mango smoothies.

Outside of the city is a moat and wall. Here we are just walking outside of it. I believe rule #7 of travelling with kids is to take transportation instead of encouraging them to walk km's in 30+C heat :)

Nya trying on a traditional hat. Everyone loves her. Everyone touches our kids all the time and the boys are getting sick of it. Nya loves the attention.

This is what downtime looks like for our family. I cannot wait for us each to have our own bedroom. Three weeks is all I can take hanging out with my family 24/7. Nya has become even more tiring. She wakes up every 2-3 hours to feed and I have to because otherwise she will wake everyone else up with her screaming. She is up by 4:30am for the day so Gary usually takes her for a walk from 5-6am so I can sleep.

You can see kai's name everywhere because it means `egg' in Thai.

Thai Ronald McDonald. Just one McDonalds here. There are a LOT of 7 11's.

We went to the Night Bazaar for shopping and food. It's a little hectic with three kids and not my favourite.

We took a tuk tuk there and Gary loved how wild he drove. It wasnt' my favourite as I just held on to the kids as tightly as I could!

A sort of date night. Half hour to drink a beer just downstairs.

I had a traditional Thai massage at Fah Lanna Spa just a 5 minute walk away. It is highly recommended on Trip Advisor and totally worth the $7 for a half hour Traditional massage:) She was crawling on me and stretching me in ways I've never stretched. It was amazing. I booked an hour long one for Gary too ($14). I think I may need one more before we go after carrying Nya around so much. The boardwalk leads to all of the massage rooms. There are some amazing deals for 3 hour treatments but it's not fair to leave one of us with the kids that long!

I would say that if you come to Chiang Mai, get a traditional massage and eat at all the food stalls!

One of our favourite things was the Sunday Night Market. We could walk there in 15 minutes. The kids loved their smoothies, we had more amazing food and bought some great souvenirs. It's very touristy but great finds. It is not fun doing that in 30+C with the kids so Gary went again in the evening and then when he came back, i went again too.

All of Nya's bug bites have turned into welts. You can see how small they start and then how big they get. They are all over her head and arms.

Gary tried to organize what restaurant we went to and we took a tuk tuk all the way across the city to realize it was a 2 minute walk from our guest house.

I bought fisherman pants at the market...one size fits all!

We had a lot of good food! Gyoza, sushi, pad thai, Khai Soi etc...

The Sunday Night market is above...

Kai wanted sushi so badly. They had it all laid out and you could just pick whatever pieces you wanted instead of ordering a whole roll. Just 5 bhat per piece.

Kai ordering a mango smoothie. He likes being Mr. independent now. He is doing really well on this trip...besides some moments of really weird behaviour (dances, sounds etc that maybe a 6 year old would find funny?).

And a sneak peek of what's ahead....we visited the Elephant Conservation Center 1 hour south of Chiang Mai yesterday. I'm very hesitant about these things because I don't want to support something that is mean to animals in any way...looking into it, this seemed like the best option. Above is Koen feeding sugar cane to an elephant and then we each got a ride (not Nya, couldn't be trusted on there!).

I'm dreading the 24 hour trip home. Four flights. It's not the boys, it's Nya. I wish I could give her something to sleep but gravol does not work on her. I might try Benadryl. Seriously, the plane rides are brutal. I come up with lists of all the things that I'd rather do than go through another ride with her and then I come up with things that are actually worse to try to make it better. In the end I just end up praying out loud looking like a crazy woman. If you ever see a parent of three kids, one being a toddler, on a plane, tell them they are awesome, okay?

Today is pretty low key as we will be going to a local pool and then eating at two amazing places:) Tough life. The boys were playing soccer in the parking lot in a thunderstorm yesterday, pretty cute. Oh yes, that is one huge thing about where we've been...there are no places to play for the kids!! Tough for our high energy bunch, hence the swimming today....

5 comments:

ah good times - love the air conditioning eh? pretty hilarious you took the tuk tuk all across the city for a 2 minute walk :) especially since it sounds like you walk pretty much everywhere. thinking of you tomorrow (thurs) on your plane ride home - you can do it, youre a super mama.

So glad you are loving the food so much! I was stoked to see you tried roti. Hope the pool is great today! Sorry Nya has kept up with her "travel schedule." Yikes, poor you. Seems you are making the best of it - kudos to you! I'm really regretting not freeing you guys up for a date when you were here.

I have just started reading your blog a few weeks ago, and I love it. I love following and reading Canadian bloggers! You are very brave to be travelling the world with three young kids! I am sure you need a vacay when you get back:) Will be praying for you regarding your flights.

Hello!

Hi, I'm Louise! I'm a mom of three (five right now through fostering) and wife of super chef and science teacher, Gary. I love the great outdoors, photography, and spending time together as a family. Oh, and silence.